Birmingham Bears and Somerset became the first two teams to book their place in this season’s T20 Blast quarter-finals as they both enjoyed local derby triumphs.
In South Group, Somerset are in fact a step ahead of the Bears as their home quarter-final is now secured thanks to a last-over four-wicket win over Gloucestershire.
They cannot now be caught on 20 points, four clear of second-placed Surrey, while there are three other sides still chasing the three remaining places, as holders Hampshire, Essex and Kent are all on 14 points.
In North Group, the Bears made it five wins in a row as they saw off Worcestershire Rapids for the second Friday night running to clinch their place in the last eight with two games to spare.
That all but assures them of a home quarter-final, given their superior run-rate over the three chasing sides Worcestershire, Notts Outlaws and Lancashire Lightning, who are all four points behind with two games left.
Lancashire climbed into second in the group, with two home games to come, on a night when Jos Buttler went past 10,000 runs in T20 cricket, only the ninth man to achieve that feat.
South Group
Never mind the top of the table, the big question in South Group was how bottom club Middlesex would go after their euphoric return to winning ways.
After their record-breaking run chase at The Oval when they chased down 253 to sensationally beat Surrey, the magic lasted just 24 hours.
Daniel Bell-Drummond hit 111 in 58 balls at Canterbury and a Grant Stewart hat-trick helped Kent Spitfires to an emphatic 55-run win.
Kent only posted 228-3, 25 short of what Surrey had managed.
But George Linde and Joey Evison both took three wickets as the visitors subsided to 173 all out.
Will Smeed made Gloucestershire suffer for the second time this season as Somerset got home with three balls to spare at Taunton.
After losing the toss, the visitors recovered from 9-3 to post 186-8, chiefly thanks to Grant Roelofsen (52), Jack Taylor (42 not out) and Graeme van Buuren (36).
But Somerset white-ball specialist Smeed followed up his 94 against the Glosters at Bristol by this time clobbering five sixes and seven fours in his 78 off 42 balls.
Holders Hampshire moved into third place thanks to their four-wicket win over Essex.
T20 run machine James Vince again caused Essex’s undoing with his seventh fifty of this year’s competition.
Feroze Khushi (61) and Dan Lawrence (70) knocked up 127 for the first wicket as Essex posted 209-7.
But Vince, who struck a century Chelmsford earlier in the season, this time smashed 76 before James Fuller’s 57 and Benny Howell’s 34 not out got the visitors over the line.
In the other game, Glamorgan hopes ended with a 20-run home defeat by Sussex.
North Group
While the Bears ensured supremacy over the Pears in the Midlands, Lancashire were the night’s other headline stealers in the north.
Their 27-run win means they are now unbeaten at home at Old Trafford in T20 since 2020.
After an indifferent run since his return from the IPL, Buttler is starting to hit his straps.
Fresh from his 74 in a losing cause at Worcester on Tuesday, his 83 against Derbyshire made it 157 in two innings.
In a game reduced to 15 overs each by a late start after rain, the hosts piled up 177-4, fuelled by Buttler’s six sixes in his 39-ball onslaught, chiefly in a 101-run second-wicket stand with skipper Liam Livingstone.
But the Falcons reached only 150-7, with 45 from Harry Came the only real highlight.
In Birmingham, the Bears blasted 13 sixes as they racked up 228-4, equalling their third highest T20 score here at Edgbaston as it matched the 228-8 they got in this fixture last season.
Rob Yates survived a drop on by Kashif Ali to make 59, well supported by Dan Mousley (51 off 25) and Glenn Maxwell, who has still not made made a 50 in this year’s competition. But his 44 off 20 balls took him past 9,000 career – 20th on the T20 career list.
It looked like the visitors might be in with a chance when openers Brett D’Oliveira and Jack Haynes put on 48 from the first five overs.
And, while Mitchell Santner was still there, that outside chance stayed just about alive. But his departure for in the 16th over was the beginning of the end – and they fell well short on 175-9.
There was disappointment in Chester-le-Street where just 49 balls were bowled before rain intervened, earning Durham and Yorkshire just a point apiece.
That all but ended Durham’s slim hopes of a last-eight berth. Yorkshire still have a chance heading into their final North Group game against Lancashire. But, if the Tykes can win at Old Trafford next Friday night, and they have already beaten Lancashire once already in T20 this season, that would ramp up the pressure on the Red Rose.
In the East Midlands meeting of seventh v ninth between Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, the hosts completed a traumatic couple of days with a probably quite predictable outcome.
Chasing a Northants total of 210-7, set up by a stand of 114 off 50 balls for the third wicket between Chris Lynn (62) and Saif Zaib (55), the three-times T20 champions were bowled out for 118 to suffer a 92-run defeat – and remain with just two T20 wins to their name in 2023.
.After a week’s break to allow the return of red-ball cricket, the Blast returns with eight more fixtures next Friday night (30 June), followed by Sussex v Gloucestershire on the Saturday (1 July), then the final eight group games on the Sunday (2 July).
Next Friday’s games
North Group
Derby: Derbyshire v Leicestershire
Manchester: Lancashire v Yorkshire
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Warwickshire
New Road: Worcestershire v Durham
South Group
Chelmsford: Essex v Middlesex
Southampton: Hampshire v Glamorgan
Canterbury: Kent v Sussex
The Oval: Surrey v Somerset
